When answering a viewpoint question in the examination, we have to spend enough time to think carefully about the main issue or argument of that question first. The following is the question about film music analysis in the AMusTCL examination. Student's answer seems to show that she does not understand the main issue of the question. As such, I attempt to rework her answer, refocusing on the crux of the argument and expanding its supporting evidences, so as to give a more satisfactory discussion.
Article:
AMusTCL
Nov 2010 (c):
Film
Music Question
Question: Is film music
the modern version of nineteenth-century Programme music? Select and discuss
TWO films from those listed below and refer to any others that are relevant in
your consideration of the question.
Student version:
Nineteenth-century
programme music evokes the listener a specific experience and conveying
emotions, which is written base on non-music idea, images or events. It invites
audience invoke the imaginative correlation with the music. Similarly, film
music is music that accompanies a film, creating narrative space and gives more
body and depth to the story and characters. In this essay, some examples will
be discussed.
My editing:
Nineteenth-century program music is famous for its expressivity
to narrate a story, or to recall and evoke the relevant experiences and emotions based on the storyline and the extra-musical ideas that embedded in the programmatic description for the
listeners. As such, program music claims its communicative legitimacy through the written text,
or program, which, despite the musical sound per se, can offer a larger imaginative space for deeper
interpretation. Similarly, the plot, the dialogues, and the moving images of a
particular scene in the movie is also likened to such referential “program”,
which is capable of offering abundant referential meanings to the corresponding
music, creating an even broader narrative
space to
the audience. From this sense, the on-screen visual “program” of a film becomes
an indispensable guidance to the understanding of the supporting music. As such,
film music, to a certain extent, can be said to be the modern version of
nineteenth-century program music. In
this essay, I will explore three examples
that
support my claim stated above.
Student version:
Firstly, in the scene “Seeking a Lesson” of
Crouching Tiger and Hidden Tiger, two narrative spaces are created. On one
hand, Master Long is fighting with many swordsmen. The Chinese percussions
strikes fast with rhythmic pattern, this highlights the fighting action. It
evokes audience the imagination of Chinese “Kung Fu” and intensifies the
tension of fighting action. On the other hand, the Chinese piccolo produces a
relaxing folk tune music which plays against the fighting scene. The lyrical,
slow tempo and dance-like music emits an artistic atmosphere. It synchronizes
to the poem reciting and sword waving by Master Long. This elevates a fighting
action to the Art of Sword Dance of traditional Chinese art. Thus, the music in this scene tells more than
the music itself and gives more body to the story.
My editing:
Firstly, in the scene “Seeking a Lesson” of Crouching
Tiger and Hidden Tiger, the on-screen visual program, the plot, tells audiences about
how Jen skillfully plays her artistic “game of sword dancing”, so as to “discipline”
a mob of fierce, trouble-making swordmen in the eatery. If we want to
understand why the underlying music is displayed in two layers of sound – one is
moving rapidly under the support of the Chinese ethnic percussive ensemble, and
the other one is singing in comparatively slower tempo by Chinese piccolo – we
have to consider the “programmatic” reference on the screen. Indeed, the on-screen moving images and dialogues, such as Jen's sword fighting and reciting poem, seem to cry out in two narrative voices for these two musical layers. On the one
hand, the power and strengthen of the sword fighting skill can be experienced from the fast moving Chinese percussion repeated in constant rhythmic
pattern intensify the pace and strength
of the fight. On the other hand, Jen 's dexterity and elegant gestures are exhibited through the
music of the slow-moving Chinese piccolo folk tune. Such musical effect can likely elicit a sense of relax, effortless spirits in
audiences, showing Jen’s mastery of the art of sword fighting. Interestingly, this
dance-like tune, accompanying with Jen’s recitation of a traditional
8-line poem, seems to creates an imagined dancing stage, on which only Jen the artistic dancer is swinging freely
to and fro like a bird hovering in the sky.
In fact, to many who know Chinese traditional culture, reciting
poem is an intellectual activity which is usually found in the social
gatherings of ancient literati. These people view sword dancing and poem
reciting is a welcoming entertainment. As such, using slow-wind but fast-percussion
ensemble of the folk musical style of northwestern China in this scene is a
wonderful setting to express how skillful Jen is in
sword fighting, and therefore, she can easily give a “lesson” to the swordmen
and teaches them what is meant by art of sword fighting. Although the audiences may think that the
music is expressing a fierce fighting on the surface, however, by referencing
the visual program reference, their understandings may be greatly adjusted. If
no “program” is provided on-screen for reference, we may misunderstand the underlying ideas of
the music, even of the scene. From this view, film music as a modern version of
program music is undeniable.
The above reworking version (a part of the original essay) is only a suggestion that may help student to understand how to cope with the main issue and how to organize and present the points in a reasoning manner.
David Leung (theorydavid)
2014-10-16 (published)
